Engines

As the FAA’s leaded avgas replacement effort grinds to a temporary halt, General Aviation Modifications Inc. says it’s close to completing testing on its own 100-octane unleaded fuel. GAMI sidestepped the FAA’s Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative in favor of a more streamlined STC approval process that’s now within a few steps of being completed. GAMI’s […]

At around $180,000, the 2018 Flight Design CTLSi is about as modern as any LSA on the market, with a Rotax 912iS Sport engine, a three-display Dynon glass cockpit, a BRS whole-airplane parachute and a high-end leather interior. But if you’re looking to save some money but don’t want to sacrifice performance, a pre-owned late-model […]

I have my own little axe to grind here and so let the sparks fly. Last month, as part of routine newsgathering duties, I tried to compile a how-goes-it on the FAA’s Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative, or PAFI. This yielded nothing but a waste of time and mounting frustration for me because everyone I spoke […]

When I drive around town, I never fail to see some kind of hybrid car, say a Toyota Prius or maybe a Ford Fusion and the occasional Nissan Leaf. This tells me that hybrids and electric vehicles are now dominating the automotive market and airplanes are soon to follow. And here, let me welcome you […]

You can say a lot of things about light sport airplanes, but one of them isn’t that the sky has been darkened with 1320-pound wonders. Sales remain modest at best and a company selling 30 or 40 a year has a smash hit. Now comes new startup Vashon to reset that equation with a heretofore […]

At the ILA show in Berlin this week, a German company called Bauhaus Luftfahrt showed off an intriguing new aircraft engine that combines piston engines with a conventional turbofan design in what it calls a composite cycle engine. A long-term concept powerplant, the company estimates such an engine could be ready for introduction in 2050. […]

As Piper rides a wave of trainer aircraft demand, it announced at Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany, that it will offer a diesel version of its PA-44 Seminole. The new model will be powered by a new Jet-A engine model from Continental Motors, the 170-HP CD-170, a variant of Continental’s CD-100 series diesel engines. The Seminole […]

As important as batteries are, the brushless DC motors that power electric airplanes are just as critical. In this brief AVweb video, Siemen’s Frank Anton explains how they work. view on YouTube

Siemens brought its prototype electric aircraft to the U.S. this week for the first time, showcasing the airplane at the company’s Innovation Day in Chicago. “Electric propulsion is one of the transformative technologies that will help the industry meet the goals of reduced fuel, emissions and noise,” said Teri Hamlin, vice president of electric propulsion […]

Zipping across the North Pole to connect city pairs in the eastern and western hemispheres happens multiple times a day. But now Norwegian Air Argentina has applied for traffic rights from Buenos Aires to Perth, Western Australia, a 7,839-mile jaunt that will take commercial airline travelers directly over the South Pole. The South American arm […]